Name: Phyllodon
(leaf tooth).
Phonetic: Fy-lo-don.
Named By: Richard A. Thulborn - 1973.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Neoornithishcia.
Species: P. henkeli (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains. However
upon the basis of comparison of the lower jaws to other similarly sized
noeornithischians, Phyllodon would have been somewhere between
1-2- meters long.
Known locations: Portugal - Alcoba�a Formation.
Time period: Kimmeridgian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Lower jaws and teeth.
Phyllodon is usually credited as a dubious dinosaur genus as at the time of writing only the teeth and lower jaws of this genus are known, making the attribution of new fossils difficult at best. Phyllodon however has been noted as being similar to the genera Nanosaurus.
Further reading
- Teeth of ornithischian dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of
Portugal, with description of a hypsilophodontid (Phyllodon
henkeli
gen. et sp. nov.) from the Guimarota lignite. - Mem�ria
Serivo�os Geol�gicos de Portugal (Nova S�rie) 22: 89–134. -
Richard A. Thulborn - 1973.
- Herbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of
Guimarota, Portugal. - Proceedings of the Geologists'
Association 112 (3): 275–283. - Oliver W. M. Rauhut
- 2001.
- Late Jurassic dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation (USA),
the Lourinh� and Alcoba�a Formations (Portugal), and the
Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania): a comparison, by Oct�vio Mateus.
In Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Morrison Formation. New
Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin (36).
Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and
Science. pp. 223–231. - John R. Foster & Spencer
G. Lucas (eds).